Method of making finger rings



P 1933' w. E. ECCLES 2,113,442

METHOD OF MAKING FINGER RINGS Filed Dec. 29, 1936 Patented Apr. 5, 1938 I I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,113,442 METHOD OF MAKING FINGER RINGS William E. Eccles; Owatonna, Minn., assignorto The Josten'Manul'actm-ing Company, ,Owatonna, Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Application December 29, 1936, Serial No. 118,112 4 Claims. (01. 29 -1005) This invention relates to the manufacture of The outline ot the middle portion ahd its height finger rings constructed of two difl'erenhmetals, and shape may vary. At each end'of the middle usually gold and silver, or high and low-carat portion 6 is a relatively slender portion 8. gold, or gold and a base metal; and its objects are That part of the finger band which is at the to simplify and expedite the required operations, inner side of the finger is to be solid gold. For to obtain effective control of the amount of gold this reason, two end-pieces 9 formed of gold areg and silver contained in the completed ring, and secured to the ends of the portions 8 of the filler to make possible the use of relatively thin sheets piece by soldering, welding or fusing. The width of the precious material. of the end-pieces 9 corresponds generally to the m In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is a width of the slender portions 8 of the filler piece. perspective view of a gold blank.- Fig. 2 illus- As shown in Fig. 4, the width of the end-pieces 9 trates in full lines two gold end-pieces and in and the flller'pieoe 5 is less than that of the blank dotted linesanintervening silver filler piece. Fig. I, so that the projecting edge portions of the 3 is a perspective view of the silver filler piece. blank I may be formed up to enclose the edges Fig. 4 is a perspective view, showing the silver of the parts 5 and 9.

filler piece and the two gold end-pieces secured v The unit composed of the parts 5 and he then to the gold blank illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is secured to the blank I in any desired way, as by a sectional view taken'through the parts shown soldering, welding or iusin'g, as shown in Fig. 4, in Fig. 4, but after those parts have been subto forms. composite blank which, for convenience jected to the action of the two dies indicated in of description, will be refe red to as t e blank dotted lines in Fig. 5. Fig. 6 is a perspective view ill. I! desired, the end pieces 9 may be secured of the stamping produced by the operation into the blank I, and the filler piece 5 then sedicated in Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a iragmental sectional cured to the blank I between the end pieces. view of said stamping, on a larger scale. Fig. 8 The next step consists in stamping the com-,

is a perspective view of the stamping shown in posite blank I. between a relatively deep intaglio Fig. 6 ai'ter it has been trimmed and its flat side die A and a flat-back die B. The die A is of such milled. Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a gold 1in-. form as to produce the stampin ll illustrated 1 ing plate. Fig. 10 shows, in full lines, a longi- Fig. 6. Said stamp n 8 central concave. tudinal central section through the parts reprecess i2 defined by two parallel ridges i3. At the 8o sented in Figs. 8 and 9 after the gold lining plate outer sides of the ridges II are curved surfaces has been secured to the flat side of the part ilw ich may, if deslled. have emblems so lustrated in Fig. 8. Fig. 10 also shows in dotted mentation impressed thereon by the die A. The lines the form of the parts after they have been ends portions i5 01' the stamping H are of the bent into ring form. v desired width and cross-sectional form to consti- For the sake of brevity, I shall use the. term tute the finger band.

gold to denote any relatively costly metal or Preliminary to the stamping operation, the alloy, and the term silver to denote any relacomposite blank III is laid on t e intas d tively cheap or.base metal or alloy. with the fiat side or the composite blank (i. e.,

In producing a finger ring by the method-herethe gold sheet I) in contact with the intaglio die. 40 in disclosed, I form the blank lby punching it The fiat-back die is then driven down against 40 from a thin sheet 01' gold stock, such sheet being the composite blank, whereby the sheet I is forced a stock article of commerce. The dies used in into the die A to form a stamped 8 Shell, the the punching operation are relatively inexpensive filler piece I is transformed into the shape indias compared with forming dies. The blank I cated in Figs. 5 and 6, and the edge portions of consists of a central portion 2 and two end porthe blank I are bent up around the edges 01' the 45 tions 3 extending in opposite directions from the parts"! and 8. The filler piece 5 is of such form central portion and in substantially the same. and mass as to fill completely e S pe 80 plane. I! desired, a central opening 4 may be shell between the end pieces 9 without causing formed in the portion 2, to reduce the amount or the thin sheet .I to be ruptured as it is being drawn gold. The opening 4 may be of various shapes down into the cavity of the die A. 50 and sizes. The flat-back die B imparts to the upper side The silver which is to be enclosed within the of the composite blank or forging ii the flat form gold exterior of the ring is in the form of a filler shown in Fig. 5. v piece 5 consisting of a middle portion 6 having a 'Ihe mass of the silver filler piece 5 is such that central hump or generally rounded elevation 'l. aconsiderable portion thereoi overflows the sheet =5 duced by the milling or understood from Fig. 6; in this view the excess silver and gold is indicated at It. The next step consists in removing the overhanging portion or flash l6 by trimming or any other suitable method.

In any drawing or stamping operation, whether the intaglio die be shallow or deep, the metallic sheet will stretch and become thinner towards the edge of the cavity of the die. If the sheet be thin originally, the stretching and thinning of the sheet during the stamping operation will cause the sheet to become excessively thin or rupture in the region towards the edge of the cavity of the die. It is, however, very desirable to conserve gold by using a thin sheet. In order to be able to use a thin sheet, and to avoid the effects of the inevitable thinning, I use a relatively deep die A so that the part of the stamping or forging which I wish to employ in the manufacture of the ring will be below the level at which the thinning occurs. This will be best understood by reference to Fig. 7, where the region in which thinning occurs is indicated at a.

The formed blank or forging H so produced is considerably thicker than is required. The next step, therefore, consists in removing the excess thickness by milling or grinding away the material indicated by the bracket 11 and the dotted line 0. It will be noted that the line c is below the region where thinning has taken place.

Fig. '8 illustrates the blank II thus obtained. The fiat side there shown is the fiat surface progrinding operation. l8 indicates the edge of the thin gold shell that encloses or surrounds the silver filler piece and the gold end-pieces 9. The milling operation incidentally removes the greasy film usually present on a stamping, so that the fiat surface shown in Fig. 8 is clean and ready for the next operation. The milling operation also enables me to produce a blank I! of predetermined thickness and hence of predetermined gold content.

After extended use, the working surface of the die B becomes somewhat uneven, thus imparting an uneven surface to the side of the stamping I0 shown uppermost in Fig. 5. Such an uneven surface would be unsuitable for the next operation, but it is, of course, removed in the milling operation, thus making it possible to use the die B much longer than would be practicable if my method did not include the use of a deep die and the milling operation.

Preferably the inner circumference of the completed ring is formed of a gold overlay l9 punched from a thin gold sheet. The overlay I9 is somewhat wider than the blank IT. The overlay is soldered, fused or welded to the flat milled side of the blank I'I, after which the excess width of the overlay is removed. There is thus produced the composite blank 20 shown in Fig. 10.

The next operation consists in bending the composite blank 20 into the form of a finger ring,

- as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 10. The bending of the blank converts the concave recess l2 into a fiat seat upon which a stone or emblem may be mounted.

The use of the sheet I, which is of rolled material, contributes to the attainment of a predetermined gold content, since such a sheet is of uniformdensity.

In the following claims the term milling" is used to denote any equivalent method of removing the excess thickness of the stamping II, and the termfsolderin is employed to designate in opposite directions from that of the filler or shell I in the stamping operation, as will be.

soldering, welding or other equivalent method of securing metallic parts together.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of making a bimetallic finger ring which consists in punching a thin flat blank from a thin sheet of gold, said blank having a central portion and two end portions extending in opposite directions from the central portion; making a silver filler piece consisting of a middle portion having a central hump and a relatively slender portion at each end of the middle portion; making two gold end-pieces corresponding generally in width to the width of said slender portions of the filler piece; securing the filler piece and the end-pieces to the flat gold blank, the width of the gold blank being greater than that of the filler and end pieces; stamping the composite blank thus produced between an intaglio die and a fiat-back die, the flat gold blank oeing placed in contact with the intaglio die, the stamping operation serving to bend the margin of the gold blank over the edges of the filler and end pieces, such bending causing thinning in the bent marginal portions of the gold blank; milling the fiat side of the stamping thus produced to reduce its thickness to a plane below the level at which thinning of the gold blank has occurred in the stamping operation; securing a gold overlay to the milled side of the stamping; and bending the composite blank thus obtained into the form of a finger ring.

2. The method of making a bimetallic finger ring which consists in punching a thin flat blank from a thin sheet of gold, said blank having a central portion and two end portions extending the central portion; making a silver filler piece consisting of a middle portion having a central hump and a relatively slender portion at each end of the middle portion; making two gold end-pieces corresponding generally in width to the width of said slender portions of the filler piece; securing the'filler piece and the end-pieces to the flat gold blank,

the width of the gold blank being greater than and end-pieces, stamping the composite blank thus produced between an intaglio die and a flat-back die, the fiat gold blank being placed in contact with the intaglio die, the stamping operation serving to bend the margin of the gold blank over the edges of the filler and end pieces; such bending causing thinning in the bent marginal portions of the, gold blank; milling the fiat side of the stamping thus produced to reduce its thickness to a plane below the level at which thinning of the gold blank has occurred in the stamping operation; and bending the stamping into the form of a finger ring.

3. The method of making a bimetallic finger ring which consists in making a thin flat blank from a thin sheet of gold, said blank having a central portion and two end portions extending in opposite directions from the central portion; securing to the fiat gold blank a body of metal which is to be enclosed by saidblank, the width of said blank being greater than that of said body of metal; stamping the composite blank thus produced between an intaglio die and a fiat-back die, the fiat gold blank being placed in contact with the intaglio die and being bent in the stamping operation into the form of a shell containing said body of metal, the stamping operation serving to bend the margin of the gold blank over the edges of said body of metal, such 01' the stamping thus broduced to reduce its thickness to a plane below the level at which thinning 01f the gold blank has occurred in the stamping operation; and bending the stamping into, the form of a finger ring.

4. In the manufacture of bimetallic finger rings, the method which includes making a composite finger-ring blank, one side of which consists of a gold'she'et, laying taglio die with the gold sheet in contact with said die, forcing the blank against and into said die with a flat-back die, whereby that portion oi the gold sheet which is forced into-the cavity of the intaglio die is drawn to greater thinness in the region adjacent to the edge of the cavity of the intaglio die, and then milling oh the flat side oi the stamping thus produced to a plane extending through the portion 01 the stamping previously received within the cavity of the die and below the level or the thinnest part of said gold sheet,

thereby retaining only the thicker part of said gold sheet in the stamping.

WILLIAM E. ECCLES. 

